Pat Thomas

Eventually somebody will figure out a mechanized system that will be able to assign an accurate grade based on the parameters set. In other words, a graded comic could be graded again on any random day, and the grade would remain the same every time. That will eliminate the human aspect and make all the human-graded slabs obsolete. There's too much money involved in these funny books for a person's opinion to be the final word in valuing the mega keys. Think of all the books being sent in for regrading when it happens.

If you know the market pretty well, I suggest you hit all the garage and estate sales you can looking for comics to flip quickly. The dollar boxes at your lcs probably have some gems in them that nobody has noticed yet. If you put in the time researching, you can find deals just about anywhere you go. You just have to stay informed about everything happening in our world that causes certain books to rise or fall and do a little speculating on your own about who could blow up next. In the current market, if you have the books people want and act quickly, people seem to be willing to pay whatever they have to. Make a list of bronze-modern era comics that always sell and a cutoff spending price on those books, and stock up on them. Make hunting for flips part of your weekly trip to the lcs, and bargain with them if you buy a lot. Keep your eye out for store closings, too. I was able to buy about 75 longboxes for pennies on the dollar when my old lcs closed down in June 2018. This was the last bit of stock after people had been going through them for 2 weeks, so there were very few keys. I figured I could sell them to mycomicshop.com using their want list feature and, at minimum, make my money back in store credit. I made my money back on the second batch I sent them, and I've since added about $15,000 to my collection by trading to them. I've still got 4500 comics left and orders to be filled every day, so I've still got a way to go. It was a ton of work to organize and enter all those comics into the database, and it took about 4 months, but it was worth the reward. It was pretty cool when they got FF #4 and I had enough credit to buy it right then. You can get your book if you make a plan and stick to it, and you don't have to sacrifice your weekly enjoyment.

DC keys have been stagnant for a long time and are probably at or near the lowest they will ever cost. If there comes a time when DC's movie universe generates the buzz the MCU does, all these books could take off. Personally, I've always had more of a connection to Marvel's characters and universe than to DC, so I've gravitated toward collecting the Marvel titles first (although I learned to appreciate DC and own a ton of their books now). DC keys have potential, but I don't know if I have confidence in their decisions at the corporate level to invest in them now.

If you are meticulous with your organization, you need to decide whether a single issue filed away in a mixed box would make you feel better than a slabbed book that has to be stored elsewhere or displayed. I have a bunch of complete or mostly complete runs where maybe 5 issues were slabbed when I bought them, and it bothers me when I'm thumbing through my collection and encounter empty spots. It doesn't seem right that they're somewhere else, but I've resisted the urge to free them so far.

I bought a press a couple of years ago for my personal collection. There is info all over the web about how to press comics, and some of it is just wrong, I read everything I could find about pressing and dry cleaning. You don't want to press a book with dust all over it. Absorene makes a putty and some erasers that work. You can find those on ebay, along with cheap presses from china starting at about $100. Research all you can and start with books that aren't anything special in your collection for practice. It makes you feel good when a cheap one turns out nice. work your way to the good stuff.

Right. I have no problem with the concept as it was presented originally. It was understood by collectors (or it was supposed to be) that there is no governing body with absolute authority over grading standards, so the assigned grade on a slab isn't guaranteed. Regardless of how many years someone has been involved with grading comics using Overstreet's as a grading guide, they aren't any more of an expert than a long-time collector or dealer who is every bit as versed in grading as them. Their job is grading comics following the company standards. There is no universal training program to assure consistency throughout the industry. There are no consequences for mistakes, even big ones that add or subtract thousands of dollars to the value of a comic. The quality control for these grading companies is also in-house only, and that raises the probability that standards can become too relaxed, and then over-corrected. But somewhere along the way, CGC has become the ultimate authority. The grade on the slab is the grade...period. And new collectors that come into the hobby are indoctrinated by their peers. CGC doesn't even have to advertise anymore. The collecting community does it for them. Regardless of how the company started off, as a useful tool in valuing a comic and protecting it, and a nice way to present, they currently control the back issue market. Because they are always right and will tell you that if you dispute a grade. Because they said so.

I'm going to dig through boxes and find some. Nice way to spend a couple of hours, I guess. Hope I have some not mentioned yet.

Do you do your own pressing? I wouldn't spend money on it, but if you have the equipment and knowledge, why not? They still never grade any raw books above 9.4, though.

Why don't you just wait for the payment to clear before shipping the book? Nothing unreasonable about that, considering the money involved. Lots of conspiracy theorists around here when it comes to ebay and other trends that have emerged over the last decade or so.

The current 9.8 craze is one of the main drivers of these outrageous sales. Collectors (especially newcomers) view CGC grading as the "official" real grade of a comic. It isn't, though. From what I understand, their grading is determined by multiple graders and the average between them. And these graders have been trained by CGC (an idea for a company not regulated by any sanctioning body with real authority or rules). They have their own set of rules, which they determined themselves when they went into business, based on the Overstreet standards that are really just general guidelines that can be interpreted differently (sometimes by the same grader). A CGC 9.8 graded comic is now perceived as absolute as long as it is undisturbed in the slab, even when an obvious defect is present. Grading wasn't meant to be determine thousands of dollars difference in value because of 2-4 10ths of a point in a grade. It started off as a service that would detect restoration and place the comic in a sealed container for preservation. The actual grade was more of a bonus, and the fine print even said that the grade itself was really just an educated guess. They have collectors thinking now that a slabbed book is infinitely more valuable than a raw one, but the only real difference between their grade and one I assign to a book is a fancy case and label that says so. Props to everybody who got in at CGC on the bottom floor. I doubt they ever imagined it could be as lucrative as it has become. They pioneered the whole comic grading industry, they got to set it all up to their own specifications, and nobody questions them. Wish I would've though of it.

Avengers 130 was one of the first comics I ever owned, and I've reacquired a copy each time I've started collecting from scratch again. It has a great cover, some good fighting between the Avengers and Titanic Three, and even a throw down between Thor and Iron Man. It also had some nice interactions between the different Avengers while they were helping Mantis find out about her past. My 9-year old self really enjoyed that book without knowing who any of the characters were. There are actually a bunch of issues between Avengers 125-200 that would fall into this category for me. None of them are expensive and have balanced action and character work. The ones that stand out most to me are 160 (The Trial), 161-162 (Bride Of Ultron) 164-166 (Nefaria Trilogy) 167, 168, 170-177 (Korvac). I enjoyed that era of Avengers immensely.

You can probably remove it yourself with a hair dryer and being careful. With the condition of that book, I wouldn't pay extra for something like that. It's not hard if you're careful. The glue has more than likely lost much of it's grip.

covrprice.com Sign up for the free version and get their newsletter, too. They're fairly new and their database is still in it's infancy, but stuff is added every day. They do track actual sales from Ebay and other dealers and do the research for you. It will just take time and more sales of all comics before it's completely trustworthy as a single source.

The popular theory is that moviegoers don't become regular comic readers, and that's mostly true. However, there are some people who were brought in by the movies. I'm pretty sure I've seen some of the posters here mention that it was the movies that sparked their interest. For myself, I loved collecting earlier in life, but had eventually lost interest in them and sold my last few valuable ones in 1986. But when X-Men finally came out in 2000 as a live action movie after years of anticipation, I was excited to see it. Then Spidey finally had a worthy movie, and those two franchises awoke the passion in me. By the time Iron Man came out, I had begun tossing around the idea of collecting again. It took awhile, but finding dealers online who had issues of Avengers and ASM I remembered brought the memories of the stories front and center to me, and I finally got the itch to buy some of them, just to see if they held the same magic for me. It wasn't an outright explosion of buying after I read the first batch, but I did order some more a few months later. I was also catching up my Marvel history on Wikipedia while waiting on my books, and I found an lcs and bought even more back issues and some new ones. Then the floodgates opened, and I've accumulated thousands upon thousands of comics since 2010 when I started collecting in earnest. Probably have spent a small fortune on them, too. I sincerely doubt I would've bought a comic again in my life if the movies hadn't lit the initial fire in me. I've enjoyed every aspect of the hobby since I came back in and I've done my part supporting new comics and contributing to the upswing in back issue values since 2010. Comics also took the place of beer in my life after drinking almost daily for close to 30 years, and I never struggled or looked back. I doubt I'm the only lapsed reader the movies influenced.

First time posting in this thread, and I hope I don't bring up something that's already been discussed to death, but I had to say something about Marvel Previews 95. Since at least last summer, this book had been routinely selling for $300 raw, being marketed by Ebay sellers as the first image of Miles Morales. I jumped in and sold mine for $300 because I figured people would eventually lose interest in that book and switch back to Ultimate Fallout 4 as Miles's first appearance. But looking at recent sold listings of Marvel Previews 95, there have been sales of RAW copies this month that sold for over $3000. A CGC 9.6 sold for $8000. Obviously, I should've waited, but I don't think I've ever seen a book like this (that hardly anybody even acknowledges) go on a tear like this. I really don't know how I feel about it. It seems crazy to me. But could this be a trend that lasts? I ask that question simply because of the obscene amounts people have paid for this book within the last month.

See, I think the possibility of a value increase is a bonus. I can still read my comics or just flip through my boxes looking at the covers. It doesn't bother me a bit that I can also use them in a financial crisis (which I've been forced to do once), or even a splurge, like to buy a new Corvette if I want to. It irritates me that people who consider themselves comic "purists" insist that comics are only meant to be read and otherwise worthless. And don't even get me started on digital "collections".

I won my Avengers 1 from an ebay grab bag. I've bought several from the same guy whenever he has them, and always got my money's worth. That's the only time I've ever won the Grand Prize, though.

I can't believe the extent some posters will go here to defend CGC when they make a mistake. This particular one is going to cost the owner of the book at least 1/2 the amount he could sell it for with a blue label, or even raw. I can't fathom any comic shop in 1988, on new comic day, going through and color touching the brand new comics before putting them out. This guy didn't buy this comic as a back issue. He bought it for $1.50 along with the other new comics that he also paid cover price for. He says he read it and put it up. What is so hard to believe about that? For many of us, comics take a backseat during some stages of our lives, and they do nothing but sit there and age. I personally had a 25 year hiatus, but had gotten rid of all my valuable ones. The few I still had were exactly the same in 2010 as they were in 1985 when i put them in a drawer. I can definitely see this in a collection of thousands. Maybe I'm naive, but I don't see the point of making a long post expressing disappointment in CGC for a mistake they made if he had actually done color touch on the book. I see somebody who is baffled by the accusation of color touch, and rightfully angry. And some of the excuses people have given are so far fetched. OP, I'm sorry this happened to you. About the only way of going about this is to call them, explain your situation politely, and ask them to consider regrading the book with an open mind regarding whether a mistake might have been made. You're at their mercy one way or another. If they refuse to fix it, and you know it's wrong, take the book out and sell it raw. They aren't the end all be all people make them out to be.

My interpretation of this is since investing in anything is a risk, at the pace the world is changing, traditional investments in stocks and bonds aren't any "safer" than collectibles like comics, sports memorabilia, or anything that provides a link to the past (back when everything was better). I don't know about that. I wouldn't want to stake my future only on comics , even ones that are currently worth a fortune. I love having my collection as a supplement to my other investments, but that's all. There are many collectors who will tell you they only buy comics to read them and do everything in their power to discourage "investors" and "speculators". But like it or not, comics are collectibles. As long as babies are born, there is an endless supply of possible future enthusiasts, and only a finite number of each comic. The big dollar amounts don't seem to scare off the newer collectors, either, so who knows what this will lead to.

Personally, I wouldn't be able to assign any better than 6.0 to that particular book. I realize chipping was a problem for some Marvel Silver Age books, but not all of them. That's the first appearance of the Wasp, and there is a big difference in value of 8.0 compared to 7.0 and below. I can't picture mycomicshop ever grading this book so high, and if was in a PGX slab, it would be ridiculed here.

Only a few books in ASM, Avengers, and FF in my collection are slabbed, and the only ones I had slabbed personally were ASM 1 & Avengers 1 after restoration and signed by Stan Lee. I much prefer having raw books in my collection, and it drives me crazy that I can't fit the slabs in their correct places within my collection. I love they way they present in a brand new 2mm shiny mylar bags with 2 boards for support, and they are protected just fine.

If it's still available. (Adventure Comics 149)

Yeah, unfortunately that is the only way to prove they received the package in the first place. I guess from now on I'll wait in line with my heavy- boxes until I finally get to the counter to deal with an employee whose expression lets me know just what they think of me and my boxes. Or I could just quit trading with mycomicshop and throw out the 6,000 or so comics they'll eventually buy up from me, because pulling and packing 500-700 books is kind of a pain. Why bother?

Hello. Do you have a back cover scan on this?

How could anybody even defend this? There is no excuse for the frequency of it happening either. Private businesses that perform this badly go out of business quickly. Why is the US Government held to such low standards, and why hasn't it improved?